A lot of noshing, a little knitting, and not too much swearing.

January 2012

January 27, 2012

I have spent the past few days painting walls. Kitchen walls to be exact. Back in December, when we layed the new floor, I foolishly thought our kitchen remodel would be complete by the end of the year. Silly girl. But it is plugging along. Whenever visitors come into the house, they see something new. The new thing they will see this weekend is color.

I extended the orange from the old dining room across the back wall. That chair is my "perch" and those windows look out to the water of Puget Sound. To the right, the last row of drawers still need to be installed.

This wall used to be a color that is hard to describe, a sort of mauvy beige. We all love the new Monticello Yellow and may use it to paint the "big wall" that runs from the vaulted roof line to the basement. The fronts of the pantry drawers were taken from the old cabinets. Originally we were planning to paint them, but I love the way they look as is.

The window trim has been cut, but not painted, and we cannot seem to make up our minds about a back splash.

This space will be getting trim and an additional shelf for jars. Don't you love the way the jars look against the yellow?

It has been over a year since we began our kitchen remodel. All of those days have not been easy, but the results are worth every inconvenience, worry, and pile of dust. I love this kitchen, it is so right for our family and the way we live everyday. It is downright perfect in every way and one day it will actually be complete.

January 20, 2012

It has been all snow all the time the past few days. The forecast went from "crippling snow event" to "maybe a couple of inches". So helpful. In the end we had 6-7 inches of white, fluffy, magic. I just love the snow. Every time it happens I can not believe I lived most of my life in a place without snow or seasons.

This morning, I was up with the sun and outside to deal with the hummingbird feeders, but this morning the feeder was not frozen, so the melt has begun. Keeping the feeders in a state where the birds can use them during freezing temeratures has been a challenge, but they do use them in the snow. Why did I not take a picture of the pretty hummingbirds with snow falling all around them?

While in the house watching the white stuff fall from the sky, I have been knitting. Last night I bound off the hem of Gimlet.

The pattern calls for the collar to be worked next, but I am going to pause. I need to finish up some test knitting, it won't take long. Will I be able to finish this sweater by the end of the month? I think I can, I think I can...

January 16, 2012

During the last post I mentioned that I would like to be at the waist shaping point of Vodka Gimlet by the end of the weekend. Not only did I make it, but I kept going.

I am past the waist and speeding towards the hem. After knitting almost two skeins of yarn over the past two days my hands are pretty sore, but I am not going to stop. I am loving this sweater and getting very excited to actually wear it.

Many parts of our area have had a good deal of snow the past few days. We saw some fall from the sky, but not much. Being so close to the water we don't always get the snow others do. But my favorite weather blogger is telling us we are going to have, "a major, highly disruptive snow event" over the next few days. If he is right, we are going to get it here at the beach and it is going to be spectacular! The larder is stocked and I have plenty of yarn for my sweater. Bring it.

January 13, 2012

I am going to have to flip my tag line to reflect the amount of noshing and lack of knitting going on around here. I would love to tell you that the knitting has been happening, and that I have just been behind with photos, but that is not true. The final six weeks of 2010 my knitting mojo took a little vacation. I am not sure if it has returned, or if it is just sending postcards.

Another Southern Cross Club shipment, no idea of the fiber, but the name Dirt is appropriate.

As for knitting, on January 1 I began Vodka Gimlet. Normally I consider gimlets a summer activity, but I can be flexible.

I am not a sweater maker, have never knit a top down ragland, and placed many frantic emails to my friend Mary to get me this far. I feel so lucky to have such an extraordinary sweater maker on my side.

I need to work 6 inches below the armhole before I begin waist shaping which leaves me less than two inches to go. It is surprising how quickly the thing is knitting up and I am hopeful to reach the waist shaping by the end of the weekend.

January 12, 2012

The roll adventure begins with the dough. A wheat based bread dough will be soft, smooth, able to be manipulated with bare hands.

GF bread dough is very different. Wet, sticky, and heavy. It is impossible to work with unless your hands are wet. Not damp, wet. In fact I had to rewet my hands after "shaping" every third roll.

Try not to be too Anal Retentive Chef when forming the rolls. There is not much you can do once the dough is plopped on the parchment sheet. Remember that it is going to rise further and that the word "rustic" is your friend.

After rising some of the rolls came out pretty circular, some others, not so much. I did not realize until I was sliding the rolls into the oven that the recipe does not call for salt. Bread really needs salt and I will be sure to throw a teaspoon in next time.

The recipe warned that right out of the oven the rolls would be hard and the way to soften is to cover them with a towel while they cool. I was sceptical as they were indeed hard as rocks right out of the oven, but the towel trick works and before long they were soft and inviting.

Look at the inside! Light, airy, soft, and perfectly bread like. The ipod phone does not do them justice.

The taste? Darn good, even without the salt (although I am still adding it next time). The family knew they were GF, but proclaimed them good and went back for seconds. The biggest surprise in this whole thing is the way the rolls tasted the next day. Usually GF baked goods are a one day only affair, but the rolls were almost as tasty the second day and toasted up beautifully.

There are a couple of downsides I should mention. The first that I am not sure how these would work without a stand mixer. There is a lot of beating going on and using a big bowl and a wooden spoon may yield different results. The other is that is that this is pretty much white bread and I like my bread a little heartier. So I will be trying out their other flours in the future. Until I am able to get to the store I have another something I am dying to try. English Muffins.

January 11, 2012

Cookies just like Grandma makes. Really, its mostly her recipe. Yesterday, before embarking on my roll making adventure I decided I needed a cookie. Being terribly optimistic about Maninis Multiuso, I did not pull the gluten free baking book off the shelf, instead I reached for Grandma's tried and true recipe. Now, in the past I would never, ever have attempted to substitute GF flour for regular, but I had read a review that said this flour could be used pretty much cup for cup as a wheat flour replacement. I felt bold.

Most GF dough is VERY sticky and hard to work with. This stuff looks just the way it should.

Most GF cookies need to be flattened before going into the oven because they just sit there during baking. These behaved perfectly.

The verdict? Delicious!!! I am SO excited. Youngest Daughter tells me there is a texture difference between these cookies and the regular variety. I can not feel it, but it has been a long time since I had a regular cookie. There is no longer a reason to make these cookies using wheat floor. Because the recipe behaves in expected ways, other people in the house can make them just as easily and I do not have to disinfect the mixer when they are done. I am feeling a little vklempt.

2. Add fat and sugar (MMM fat and sugar) to the bowl of a stand mixer and cream. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until nice and smooth.

3. To the butter mixture add baking powder and salt and mix until blended. Add flour and mix until smooth. Add oatmeal and mix until well blended. Add chocolate chips and nuts and give the batter a good stir.

4. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets and bake until nice and brown, about 8 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.

January 10, 2012

Clicking around online one evening I came across a new to me gluten free flour. Its even made right here in Seattle!

They make five different types of flours as well as fresh pasta! The local store that carries the flour, does not carry the pasta :-( The initial price tag is scary only because the flour comes in 5 pound bags. The calculator tells me that is about $3.50 a pound which if I am remembering correctly is less expensive than Bob's Red Mill GF flour.

Tonight's dinner is Split Pea Soup and rolls. Usually I buy regular rolls for the rest of the family and just do not have any myself, but with a heart full of fresh optimism I will be making GF rolls.

If you have been reading the blog for over a year you know that I used to be a great bread baker. Made bread almost everyday and LOVED doing it. Last year was what I am going to call my transition year. It took about 6 months after being diagnosed with Celiac to completely give up wheat. I really did not understand the damage even just a few crumbs can cause. Once I worked out the kitchen to eliminate cross contamination and gave the family lectures about the hazards of even a wee bit of wheat, I felt pretty good. I quickly learned that GF bread blows and I became comfortable with not eating bread at all. Here we are in 2012 and I would like this year to tbe the year I get my bread back. Not by paying $7 for a small loaf of previously frozen, pretty awful, GF bread, but by pulling my baking hat down over my ears and getting to work.

January 06, 2012

I cast on one afternoon so that I would have something to bring to Knitters Guild and loved the colors and the fabric so much I could not put it down.

I spun the yarn during last summer's Tour De Fleece and I knew right away that it wanted to be a linen stitch scarf. All of the scarves on Ravelry are knit long ways and have fringe. I do not like fringe and wanted to use every bit of the yarn, so my scarf is side to side and I knit until I ran out of yarn.

I LOVE the way is looks. LOVE. This is a great way to show of handspun and I may make more scarves for holiday gifts.